Year of reform and hope

President Xi Jinping said in his New Year address on Tuesday that greater strides will be made on reforms in 2014, and people have much to expect of the materialization of the specific reform plans and their benefits to people's daily lives.

Xi said that the reforms are meant to make the country more prosperous, create a more equal and fairer society, and improve people's lives, which has already proved the case with the changes the new leadership's policies have brought about during the past year.

The series of specifications the Party announced about how officials at all levels should practice frugality and shun extravagance are estimated to have reduced government spending in public trips, motor vehicles and receptions by several hundred billion yuan.